[Eyenovation]

Is there any perceivale difference in quality from the

867 MHz
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000
32MB DDR video memory

to the

1 GHz
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000
64MB DDR video memory

[slow moe]

I'm not sure what you mean by quality, but more video memory, and a faster processor will give you faster frame rates.

[Eyenovation]

Originally posted by slow moe:
I'm not sure what you mean by quality, but more video memory, and a faster processor will give you faster frame rates.

Yeah, I figured as much, but for a casual notebook computer used to check email and do casual design work on the road...

Would the higher frame rates be a necessity? I imagine those are more for people who fancy editing video or playing video games, no?

I'm wondering if I need the extra grunt.
Is it possible to get the 867 w./ better video card?

[AssassyN]

The only people who'd *need* the 64MB Radeon card (btw, the only difference is the amount of video RAM, the chipsets are the same) are gamers & people who do a lot of high-end Photo/Video work (Maya, LightWave, etc.).

For any tasks less engaging than those I just listed, the 867Mhz w/ the 32MB of video RAM will more than suffice. It's impossible to get the 867Mhz TiBook w/ the 64MB graphics card, and it's also impossible to get the 1Ghz TiBook w/ the 32MB graphics card.

So, unless you're a gamer or heavy into Photo/Video editing, the 867Mhz & it's graphics card will treat you fine.

[slow moe]

Originally posted by Eyenovation:
Yeah, I figured as much, but for a casual notebook computer used to check email and do casual design work on the road...

Would the higher frame rates be a necessity? I imagine those are more for people who fancy editing video or playing video games, no?

I'm wondering if I need the extra grunt.
Is it possible to get the 867 w./ better video card?

I'm afraid the PB's are what they are. Sorry, no upgrades in the graphics department, but as long as you're not looking to run UT2003 at a gozillion frames per second, they do alright.

[Eyenovation]

Originally posted by AssassyN:
So, unless you're a gamer or heavy into Photo/Video editing, the 867Mhz & it's graphics card will treat you fine.

Would you say a Graphic Designer who uses Photoshop frequently falls under that? I realize that's a subjective question...

Thanks for the insight, guys.

[AssassyN]

Welp, it honestly depends on how intensive your work is. If you're talking 100MB+ plus Photoshop files that you edit daily, then you'd definitely see a big improvement by getting the 64MB card, however, it's not JUST the 64MB video RAM that would help, but the extra CPU horsepower as well that comes along with it in the 1Ghz TiBook.

If your Photoshop work isn't that intensive, the 867Mhz will suit just fine.

[issa]

We might also note that the memory bandwidth differs between the two configurations of the Mobility Radeon 9000. The card with 64MB on board has 128-bit memory bandwidth, while the 32MB configuration has 64-bit bandwidth.

Not sure if there is a perceivable difference with the extra bandwidth, and haven't found any head-to-head performance comparisons of the two configurations to date.

[todrain]

Basic rule of thumb with laptops is buy all of the hardware you can afford (assuming you want the laptop to last a few years) Since upgrading them is darn near impossible, You never know when the extra power might be needed. Quartz extreme needed 16MB of video RAM, so anyone who has a PowerBook or iBook with 8mb is out of luck.

Will you need 64MB? Maybe not, but if you can afford it, it's better to have the extra power there.

[Powaqqatsi]

Originally posted by AssassyN:
Welp, it honestly depends on how intensive your work is. If you're talking 100MB+ plus Photoshop files that you edit daily, then you'd definitely see a big improvement by getting the 64MB card, however, it's not JUST the 64MB video RAM that would help, but the extra CPU horsepower as well that comes along with it in the 1Ghz TiBook.

If your Photoshop work isn't that intensive, the 867Mhz will suit just fine.

You really do not need more memory to use Photoshop, it'll do nothing. Only CPU and normal RAM will make it faster not video memory.

[phobos]

Video memory comes handy for graphic designers if you use 2 monitors and most of us use 2 monitors....
So if you got a 64MB graphic card you get for each screen 32MB. But if you have a 32 MB you get 16MB for each screen.
The more graphics memory the better your scrolling speed on both screens on big files the higher the resolution each monitor can drive etc. I have the 667 wich comes with 32MB of memory so it gets split up to 16MB. I do heavy use of photoshop and with 2 screens and it's bearable.
Whatever your needs are go with the best machine,if you want your laptop to last for much longer than one year. Your needs and the specs required for every program will increase not decrease. To buy the best machine ofcourse applies only to laptops because laptops can't be upgraded.